DIGITAL Rider Swap/Rider Switch/Child Swap: In Effect as of June 16th

[aceburton1]

Help! Not meaning to cheat the system, but wondering if this will work for my upcoming trip. We are taking a group of 8, only one of which is a toddler. The toddler obviously will not be able to ride some of the height requirement rides. Will I be able to book a party of 4 for the Fastpass, then the remaining three use the digital rider swap pass?

 

[lovethesun12]

Thank you for the update! Such a useful post =) This is exactly how we were hoping to use rider swap.

Update on my experience:

1) in our party of 5, I booked 3 FP for space mountain and 2 to Ride Buzz. We went to space mountain together and got a child swap added to my band and the two older kids band.

2) i rode buzz with my younger daughter while they rode space, and then i rode space with child swap. My husband and daughter rode people mover.

We did something similar on expedition Everest- only booking fast passes for 3 people.

Also as a reminder, my daughter is not too short to ride, she just doesn’t care for those rides.

ALSO: there is a window of time to use the child swap - basically within an hour and a half or so, depending on the line group one is waiting in. But you DO need to use it pretty much back to back - you can’t save it like before.

Here’s my previous post:

We used it several times.

Our whole group had fast pass (even my non-rider)

Group #1 was my husband, my sister, my son and nephew. All with their fast passes. (I waited with my daughter)

Group #2 was me with my son and nephew riding again (using the rider swap entitlement that’s had been added to their band).

We are going again on Saturday. This time, I booked a different fast pass for my daughter and myself while everyone else rides space mountain with fast pass.

I’m still going to try to get rider swap so I can ride space mountain - but not sure what will happen since I won’t have a space mountain FP. I’ll report back.

Edited to add: my daughter is tall enough for the rides we used digital rider swap on - she’s just too scared to ride (Big Thunder, splash, expedition Everest...)

 

[hayesdvc]

Thanks for the info. I did see on WDWMagic that people are reporting the 7DMT and FOP are sometimes making everyone have FPs before they will give out a RS. They did say those were the only rides they had an issue with.

If the RS only last an hour and if all persons in the party must have FPs for the attraction (7DMT and FOP), what would be the purpose of RS for these rides?

 

[mom2rtk]

If the RS only last an hour and if all persons in the party must have FPs for the attraction (7DMT and FOP), what would be the purpose of RS for these rides?

So the adult who waits out with the too small rider doesn't have to ride alone. 2 members of the party would get to ride twice.

 

[KrazeeK120]

If the RS only last an hour and if all persons in the party must have FPs for the attraction (7DMT and FOP), what would be the purpose of RS for these rides?

So that if you arrive near the end of the FastPass window, the second person to ride can still enter the FastPass line.

 

[DopeyDame]

Still struggling with the "everyone needs a fastpass" maybe-rule.
I'm wondering what they do to ensure the too-small-too-ride but over age 3 (so have paid for a ticket and the accompanying fast passes) get to actually use all their fast passes.

For example, a family with mom, dad, big brother, little sister:
mom, dad, big brother would get fast passes for Space Mountain, Buzz, and Peter Pan
little sister would get a fast pass for Buzz and Peter Pan, but what about her third? She's not allowed to ride anything by herself.
So either one of the big people has to wait in standby for space mountain, or little sister wastes a FP on space mountain and doesn't get her 3 FPs that should be included in her ticket.

Has anyone had experience with this?

 

[4Hawks]

Still struggling with the "everyone needs a fastpass" maybe-rule.
I'm wondering what they do to ensure the too-small-too-ride but over age 3 (so have paid for a ticket and the accompanying fast passes) get to actually use all their fast passes.

For example, a family with mom, dad, big brother, little sister:
mom, dad, big brother would get fast passes for Space Mountain, Buzz, and Peter Pan
little sister would get a fast pass for Buzz and Peter Pan, but what about her third? She's not allowed to ride anything by herself.
So either one of the big people has to wait in standby for space mountain, or little sister wastes a FP on space mountain and doesn't get her 3 FPs that should be included in her ticket.

Has anyone had experience with this?

Most of the first-hand reports on this thread confirm that only those in the first group need FP. It was that way when they used paper RS and it most likely continues to be that way now that they have gone digital.

We're going in September and for the rides my DD cannot ride, I only made FP reservations for my DS and DH. I made FP reservations for DD and me on other rides at the same times, e.g. DH and DS will ride FOP, while DD and I ride NRJ, then we'll swap and DH will stay outside with DD, while DS and I ride FOP.

 

[pd1138]

Thanks everyone for the reports! I’ve been reading them to figure out this new digital system. At 60 Days I made FP for all six of us even though my youngest is too short to ride four of them thinking that was what I was supposed to do to get RS. Headed down in a few weeks with a 40 inch kid so thankfully this policy for us will only apply for a few of rides.... I think to be safe I’ll keep everyone’s FOP FP including my too short to ride kid just in case that day the CM at the time says everyone needs a FP. I don’t want to miss out on FOP by riding Navi with FP with my youngest.

 

[jwolfpack]

Thanks everyone for the reports! I’ve been reading them to figure out this new digital system. At 60 Days I made FP for all six of us even though my youngest is too short to ride four of them thinking that was what I was supposed to do to get RS. Headed down in a few weeks with a 40 inch kid so thankfully this policy for us will only apply for a few of rides.... I think to be safe I’ll keep everyone’s FOP FP including my too short to ride kid just in case that day the CM at the time says everyone needs a FP. I don’t want to miss out on FOP by riding Navi with FP with my youngest.

Reluctantly, I'm going the same route I think for our next trip. My youngest is taller than 40, but not quite 44. I think I'll still split reservations on Space Mountain, Everest, and RNR, but make sure everyone has one for FOP just to be safe. I, too, am so grateful we're down to just a handful of rides to worry about this on!

 

[Rjw615]

Wife and I did FOP on child swap. DD is 5 and not tall enough to ride it. Wife went first and they put the child swap FP on my magic band. We (the wife and I) did not both need a FP, only the wife did. Good news on that.

Strange thing was, the CM asked, "Is your daughter not to tall enough to ride it and made her get out of the stroller to measure her" I always thought it was if the child didn't want to ride the ride, no matter the size.

Oh well, it worked out perfect after that. DD and I rode Navi then waited on the wife and then I rode FOP with no issues.

This was on July 8th btw.

 

[MomOTwins]

Wife and I did FOP on child swap. DD is 5 and not tall enough to ride it. Wife went first and they put the child swap FP on my magic band. We (the wife and I) did not both need a FP, only the wife did. Good news on that.

Strange thing was, the CM asked, "Is your daughter not to tall enough to ride it and made her get out of the stroller to measure her" I always thought it was if the child didn't want to ride the ride, no matter the size.

Oh well, it worked out perfect after that. DD and I rode Navi then waited on the wife and then I rode FOP with no issues.

This was on July 8th btw.

Interesting; that makes me wonder if the real concern they have is that people are using someone as a single "gateway" FP---- e.g., maybe they could only get FPs for one person, so they claim someone else doesn't want to ride to try to get a swap for three other people to ride without FPs via rider switch. That might explain why they checked your daughter's height (to make sure she wasn't planning to ride with you via rider swap after your wife). It might also explain why some people were turned away for not having FPs for everyone in their party if it looks suspicious.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Interesting; that makes me wonder if the real concern they have is that people are using someone as a single "gateway" FP---- e.g., maybe they could only get FPs for one person, so they claim someone else doesn't want to ride to try to get a swap for three other people to ride without FPs via rider switch. That might explain why they checked your daughter's height (to make sure she wasn't planning to ride with you via rider swap after your wife). It might also explain why some people were turned away for not having FPs for everyone in their party if it looks suspicious.

Great point. I've seen it mentioned before families getting rider swap for someone that was too scared/ didn't want to ride and later the child changed their mind and rode with the swap pass. There have also been people who have said they fully intend to ask for rider swap even though they know everyone wants to ride for the exact reason you mentioned above- because they couldn't get or didn't want to get FP for everyone. I would think that happens more often with popular hard to get FP like FOP. It does suck for those who have a child who truly is too scared to ride and too young to wait alone, but I imagine they would still allow the swap at boarding like they have in the past on most rides.

 

[HopperFan]

Wife and I did FOP on child swap. DD is 5 and not tall enough to ride it. Wife went first and they put the child swap FP on my magic band. We (the wife and I) did not both need a FP, only the wife did. Good news on that.

Strange thing was, the CM asked, "Is your daughter not to tall enough to ride it and made her get out of the stroller to measure her" I always thought it was if the child didn't want to ride the ride, no matter the size.

Oh well, it worked out perfect after that. DD and I rode Navi then waited on the wife and then I rode FOP with no issues.

This was on July 8th btw.

This is not consistently followed, have personally been told my obviously disabled son who can not be left alone, and who is tall enough, does not qualify for RS.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

This is not consistently followed, have personally been told my obviously disabled son who can not be left alone, and who is tall enough, does not qualify for RS.

Just curious. Have you ever tried doing the swap at boarding or do you always just skip the rides he won't go on? I'm just wondering if they would give you the same problem there because they're just looking at his age rather than the disability.

 

[HopperFan]

Just curious. Have you ever tried doing the swap at boarding or do you always just skip the rides he won't go on? I'm just wondering if they would give you the same problem there because they're just looking at his age rather than the disability.

I have not because he wouldn't understand and would become upset that he isn't riding.

Sadly Disney is not following their own published policy ............ but we make it work, I skip some rides and we take breaks or doing something else while DS2 goes on .... it just bothers me that Disney CMs are so poorly trained that there is no consistency in just about any process at the attractions, even changing shift to shift. We as guests shouldn't have to guess what will happen and be prepared for all different rules at each attraction. Ironically many of us know and understand the rules ........ too bad too many CMs don't. But that is to be expected when you have so many front line temporary CP workers.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

I have not because he wouldn't understand and would become upset that he isn't riding.

Sadly Disney is not following their own published policy ............ but we make it work, I skip some rides and we take breaks or doing something else while DS2 goes on .... it just bothers me that Disney CMs are so poorly trained that there is no consistency in just about any process at the attractions. We as guests shouldn't have to guess what will happen and be prepared for all different rules at each attraction. Ironically many of us know and understand the rules ........ too bad too many CMs don't. But that is to be expected when you have so many front line temporary CP workers.

I completely agree that there needs to be more consistency. A swap at boarding can work for many families with a tall enough kid (though it may not be the family's preferred kind of swap), but clearly it's not something certain families (like yours) can do. It seems like some better training in this area would help CMs to understand

 

[Rand0mTh0ughts]

Update Again- sigh

Today we went on 7dwarf mine train.

They did not allow us to use digital rider swap- instead they had my daughter - who IS tall enough to ride - wait in line and do a physical ride swap at the train.

So yes, lack of consistency, but my guess is they are stricter on those rides with hard to get FP.

We’ve had no trouble just using digital ride swap for any other ride in the past few weeks. (My daughter is at least an inch or two above the flights of passage height limit - so 5-6 inches taller than the limit for splash and big thunder- and she was able to use digital ride swap)

I also think they are working out the kinks in the digital system - it takes longer than the old paper system.

 

[staceyrose55]

So if the standby wait is 200 minutes, you’d have to wait 190 minutes to use RS? Really? Has that happened to anyone IRL yet?

Right, and then what is the benefit of the pass at all!!?

 

[lovethesun12]

Great point. I've seen it mentioned before families getting rider swap for someone that was too scared/ didn't want to ride and later the child changed their mind and rode with the swap pass. There have also been people who have said they fully intend to ask for rider swap even though they know everyone wants to ride for the exact reason you mentioned above- because they couldn't get or didn't want to get FP for everyone. I would think that happens more often with popular hard to get FP like FOP. It does suck for those who have a child who truly is too scared to ride and too young to wait alone, but I imagine they would still allow the swap at boarding like they have in the past on most rides.

A swap at boarding for those tall enough seems fair. We’ve used rider swap when they were infants and it worked well. But now they are over 38” and I don’t understand not booking a FP+ because I *think* they wouldn’t ride? What if they want to?

 

[MomOTwins]

Right, and then what is the benefit of the pass at all!!?

As I understand, that is what happens if the first swap group is riding standby, because that is the minimum time it will take before they are ready to swap, and it mitigates the “leave the line” cheat. The swap pass would be activated based on the fastpass wait time if the first group is riding fastpass, so ready almost immediately.